Site Navigation

Site Mobile Navigation

India says it will abstain in Iran nuclear vote

NEW DELHI — India plans to abstain from a vote on Iran's nuclear program at an emergency meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency later this week, senior Indian officials said Monday.

The officials spoke as countries concerned with the Iranian nuclear crisis - three European countries, the United States, Russia and China - were preparing for crucial meetings in London.

The board of the IAEA, the nuclear regulator of the United Nations, is scheduled to hold an emergency session in Vienna on Thursday to consider sending the nuclear issue to the Security Council, where sanctions against Iran would be considered.

The U.S. ambassador to India, David Mulford, said last week that if India did not oppose Tehran at the IAEA, a landmark India-U.S. nuclear cooperation pact could be in trouble.

"We cannot vote with the U.S. after his comments," said a senior Indian official, who did not wish to be identified. "We're planning to abstain."

Although Mulford later said that he had been quoted out of context and expressed regret, his remarks set off a domestic furor, with allies in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's ruling coalition and opposition groups accusing the government of selling out to Washington.

"We are still hoping the crisis won't go to a vote," the official said, "and Iran will get some more time to resolve it through talks. But if it does, then Ambassador Mulford has made it easy for us."

The official said India backed a Russian compromise plan under which Moscow would enrich Iranian uranium fuel, a proposal supported by China.

Russia and China, which both have veto power in the Security Council, have been reluctant to approve of economic sanctions on Iran. The two nations thus threaten to undermine U.S. and European plans for tough action against Tehran. India and Iran have historically been on good terms.

But New Delhi surprised the world in September by supporting Washington at an IAEA vote that declared that Iran had failed to comply with its international obligations.

India's abstention could now slow down the closing of a civilian nuclear cooperation deal with the United States under which Washington has promised to help New Delhi increase its atomic program to meet its growing energy needs, an Indian foreign ministry official said.

"We know that this could create problems in the U.S. Congress," the official said, "but we don't seem to have many options now. We will explain our compulsions to our interlocutors."

The India-U.S. atomic deal seeks to reverse a nearly 30-year-old ban on nuclear cooperation with New Delhi, which has tested nuclear weapons, and it needs the approval of U.S. Congress.

Both sides have been confident about clinching it ahead of a visit to India by President George W. Bush in March, although details of the accord are still to be negotiated.

Singh, who also is foreign minister, said his government would not be pressured into doing anything that hurt its national interests.

"We will do what is right for our country," he was quoted as saying by an Indian newspaper when he was questioned by reporters about the Iran vote.